Michael Chapman is a washed up child star who now runs an agency representing child talent albeit without a great deal of success. When Michael has his wallet stolen by a street urchin he chases her until a crowd surrounds the young thief. Seeing Angie turn on the waterworks and con her victims with a performance of woe, he sees her as a potential actress. Signing her as a client, he gets her an important audition, which she wins with her mix of refreshing honesty and directness. However her background is not clear and it is apparent that she'll be a lot harder work that any of the firm's other clients
I came to this film with no idea what it was about, but just that it had Michael J Fox in it and maybe that was worth a look. The plot is a little cutesy and doesn't make any logical sense whatsoever, but that doesn't matter too much. Nor is it very funny, it has moments which are funny (the auditions are good) or characters which bring a bit of life into it (The Cereal King is great fun) but mostly it just ambles along easily enough. Part of the reason for this is that it does have a certain amount of harmless charm which is easy going and not a problem for anyone! What I mean is: if you're in a relaxed, undemanding mood then this film has just enough charm to cover it's weaknesses and you may like it.
Credit for much of this charm must go to the cast, and in particular the main couple of leads. Fox is not great but he is OK, he doesn't try very hard and seems to relax into the movie, which I felt kind of encouraged the audience to do the same. Supporting him is a great little performance from Vidal. Before I realised where I knew her face from I was thinking to myself that she would make a great actress when she gets older. However if Taina is anything to go by she has just kept doing the same role as an adult! The support cast is great and features plenty of funny kids as well as quite a few well known adults including Lane (pretty funny), Lauper (although God knows why), Krumholtz and Garber.
Overall this is NOT a very good film. It isn't very funny and it's plot is so obvious and weak that you wonder if one of the children in the cast couldn't have helped make it a bit stronger! However it does have an easy charm about it and, while not being great fun, is amusing in it's own way and maybe worth a watch on a lazy evening.
